Don’t Get Caught Up in Your Own Crap

I experienced something recently in my life that has made me change the way I look at myself. I came to the realization of how easy it is to get caught up in our own crap. What do I mean by that?

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. Most of the time I tend to be a goal-oriented person. Whether that has to do with my life in lifting, such as hitting a specific total or a lift, or just a general goal of something I would like to accomplish, such as reading for at least 30 minutes a day. I’ve started to realize something about myself when it comes time to prepare for a meet. I have a tendency to develop tunnel vision when training for my competitions. Sometimes it’s all I can think about and focus on, it even starts to feel like something I have to do, rather than something I want to do. Of course I realize that I’m not the only human in the history of the world that has experienced these feelings and emotions. The thing that really bothered me about all of this was when I finally started to see that I was neglecting other important aspects of my life. I was withdrawing and pushing away people and relationships that meant far more in my life than lifting or competing ever could. This made me start to realize the things in my life that are truly important to me. For some of you that may be reading this and are thinking, “Well duh dude, that’s what achieving hard goals are all about, sacrifice, doing things to don’t want to, and making tough decisions!” Yes, I get it. I understand that if you set out to reach a goal and you are really giving it a lot of time out of your life, then other areas of your life are going to suffer. All I’m really saying is it’s incredibly easy to get caught up in ourselves and the things we want in life that we forget about the people that have been by our sides the whole time, the people that don’t really care what our squats are, what our totals are, or what kind of records we have. Those are the people in our lives that should be truly important to us. Our kids, our husbands and wives, our brothers and sisters and our significant others. Let’s face it, in the big scheme of things in the universe how much you squat, bench, or deadlift isn’t really going to have that major of an impact on the world. Now, please don’t interpret this as me saying don’t have goals, don’t make sacrifices to reach the things you want in life. I am in no way, shape, or form saying that. I am simply saying that sometimes when we realize we have been neglecting something, it may already be too late by the time you realize and that can really hurt. If there’s someone, or multiple people in your life that are really important to you, take some time out of your day to sincerely tell them how much they mean to you. They may not always be around and you certainly don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to tell them how you really feel.

If there is anyone out there reading this that can relate to what I’m saying, I hope this helps you out in some way. I know it has done wonders for me already to open my eyes to see what’s really important in my life. If you’ve had a similar experience, please share in the comments below, I would love to hear about it.